Intake install question

[50bomber]

Howdy, I have a question concerning an intallation of Edelbrock Performer intake. Mainly, it has to do with the removal of the stock lower intake. When I did it, imagine my surprise, when I saw dirt underneath the intake, in the lifter valley and in the "spider?" that holds the lifters. What is up with that????? Also, I noticed that my cork endgaskets were almost like missing and there was a lovely combination of grime, dirt, oil and coolant?? near the gasket under the intake. Can someone chime in and help???? It is the first time that I have put in an intake manifold and I didn't know that the inside of the engine could be dirty....is there any way of cleaning it completely??? Thanks for any replies.

 

[ECU5.0]

is it dirt or just crud from oil? ive seen engines at work that people bring in for cores that have like 3 inches of oil caked up because they didnt take care of the engine. just clean it out and run an oil system cleaner on the motor when you get done because youll have to change the oil anyways after a few hundred miles. when i put my intake on i didnt use a gasket for the lower intake in the front and back, i just used rtv. make sure you put rtv on the water jackets on the heads also. good luck

 

[50bomber]

Thanks for reply, re: crud, it looks like a combo of sand/dirt and oil and it is everywhere, including the pushrods, spider, surfaces, etc...I have noticed that there are two holes at either end of the block, do these allow for drainage of oil or are they just vent holes? Can I just flush all the crap out with some solvent and hope it ends up in the oil pan which I would first drain??

 

[Michael Yount]

"...hope it ends up in the oil pan..."

Hope is never a good strategy when it comes to engine work. You want to absolutely limit having anything fall anyplace where you don't know if you can get it out or not. The shop vac is your friend - suck as much of muck out as you can. Once the big/loose bits are out, then brake cleaner soaked rags should be able to wipe up stuff. Not sure what you expected - but any engine with 165K on it is likely to have some interesting stuff inside.

Get it as clean as you can -- and limit anything going someplace you can't get it out for sure.

 

[50bomber]

Thanks guys